Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) Stock Price Breaks Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

Shares of Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Thursday. The stock has a 200-day moving average of $8.97 and traded as high as $9.09. Navient shares last traded at $9.08, with a volume of 1,333,462 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on NAVI shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a report on Monday, September 21st. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Navient from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Navient from $8.00 to $8.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 12th. TD Cowen reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of Navient in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Navient from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $8.17.

Navient Stock Up 2.4%

The company has a quick ratio of 10.53, a current ratio of 10.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.73. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.96.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The credit services provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $150.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $142.87 million. Navient had a negative net margin of 1.64% and a positive return on equity of 4.68%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Navient Corporation will post 0.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. Navient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -128.00%.

Institutional Trading of Navient

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Navient in the second quarter worth $110,235,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Navient by 41.5% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,939,380 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $16,504,000 after buying an additional 568,590 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Navient during the second quarter worth about $11,989,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its position in Navient by 145.9% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 939,099 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,992,000 after buying an additional 557,141 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PDT Partners LLC bought a new position in Navient in the 2nd quarter worth about $4,435,000. 97.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Navient Company Profile

Navient Corp. (NASDAQ:NAVI) is a financial services company that provides education finance and business-processing solutions. The company has historically serviced and managed federal and private student loans, helping borrowers with account administration, repayment processing, customer support and related loan-management services.

Navient’s operations have evolved as the company reduced its role in servicing federally owned student loans. In 2021, it transferred its federal student loan servicing portfolio to Aidvantage, a division of Maximus.